Keeping Pets Fed and Families Together

Next month Dakin will launch its annual Pet Food Drive.  All through April, collection bins for pet food will be onsite at the following locations:

  • Dave’s Soda and Pet City (Agawam)
  • Stop & Shop (Belchertown, Chicopee, East Longmeadow, Greenfield, Hadley, Holyoke, Northampton, Springfield)
  • A.W. Brown’s (East Longmeadow)
  • Petco (East Longmeadow, Holyoke, Springfield)
  • Pet Supplies Plus (West Springfield)
  • Smithland Supplies (Ware, Northampton, Ludlow, Hadley)
  • Tractor Supply (Southampton)
  • Gary Rome Hyundai (Holyoke)
  • Animal Crackers (Greenfield)

The goal is to gather 50,000 pounds of pet food to replenish Dakin’s supply, which is used for our Pet Food Aid Program (PFAP) as well as animals in our care.  Visit our wish lists to support our annual food drive and make a purchase online here.  To support our Pet Food Drive online, please click here.  

Of our PFAP recipients last year, more than 40% were new clients who never needed our help before.  Thanks to the support of our community, the PFAP served more than 1.2 million meals to pets, more than four times the amount in a typical year.  As more people face economic hardship in 2021, we expect the need for pet food to increase again.

What we’re seeing at Dakin reflects what’s happening on a national level.  According to Feeding America, which works with a nationwide network of member food banks to feed America’s hungry, 42 million people (1 in 8), including 13 million children (1 in 6) may face food insecurity in 2021.

When resources are limited, people often sacrifice their own food to feed pets.  Dakin is here to spare our community that pain by providing pet food.  Our pets provide so much comfort in good times and bad, and the human-animal bond carries us through.  Below is a testament to what your support of the Pet Food Aid Program means to a first-time recipient who found themselves in need of a little extra help and attended the pet food drive up last year:

We hope you’ll support our Pet Food Drive so people like Julianne can keep their pets by their side instead of facing a heartbreaking separation.  Thank you for caring about animals and the people who love them.

*Source: Feeding America; The Impact of the Coronavirus on Food Insecurity in 2020 & 2021, March 2021  https://www.feedingamerica.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/National%20Projections%20Brief_3.9.2021_0.pdf

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